Un sacrificio: Gabriele’s cheese. A documentary

Abstract

This short documentary introduces us to Gabriele, his elderly father, and their shared practice of making homemade cheese. Shot in the intimate space of their rural kitchen, the film allows the viewer to take a glimpse into a father and son relationship, and the passion, tradition, and sacrifice associated with this daily practice. This documentary is part of a series that explores the mundane practices of everyday economies in the southern-Italian region of Molise through ethnographic writing, filming, and critical reimagining. The series seeks to produce ‘provocative encounters’ that inspire reflection, a change of perspective, and the possibility to challenge taken for granted assumptions about the world. Through these provocative encounters we aim to go beyond critical theory and inspire ‘critical reimagining’. Critical reimagining seeks to make practical and tangible contributions while actively reimagining the world within a prefigurative relationship between reflection and implementation of alternatives. We argue that such critical reimagining requires engagement with difference and alternative approaches to life, which we don’t necessarily find in the capitalist centers of the world, but rather within the fringes and peripheries this series seeks to explore.

Keywords: Inner areas, self-sufficiency, tradition, reimagining